DONOR HERO: CECI SOLIS

When Alfonso met Ceci, it was love at first sight. They were married just six months later. Only days after bringing their perfect baby girl Emily into the world, a blood vessel suddenly ruptured in Ceci’s brain. Alfonso vividly remembers the way she frantically called for him and the last hours he spent by her side begging for her life to be spared. After learning the extent of her catastrophic injury, he was faced with a decision. In the midst of his grief, Alfonso chose hope. 24-year-old Ceci made the gift of life possible for five others through donation. Her liver saved a 22-year-old man. Her lungs went to a 56-year-old woman in North Texas with one child. Her pancreas and kidney helped a 32-year-old woman in East Texas, while another kidney saved a 50-year-old woman in New York with one daughter. A young 13-year-old boy from West Texas received her heart. Ceci and Alfonso’s daughter Emily is nearly 15 years old and surrounded by memories of her mother’s kind, warm and generous spirit. Donation has given Alfonso’s life purpose, and he continues to honor Ceci’s beautiful legacy by sharing their family’s experience.